DK - WOW! The Visual Encyclopedia of Everything

All our plant foods are grown on farms of some

kind – from the huge wheat and maize fields

of North America, to the banana plantations

and coconut groves of the tropics. The crops

we harvest today are descended from plants

that once grew wild, but which have been

bred to give high yields of juicy fruit, edible

seeds, or rich vegetable oils.

Farm crops

MAIZE ▶

The “corn” grown in

the Americas is actually

maize, a giant grass that

grows well in sunny

climates. Its big kernels can be cooked and eaten

as they are, or ground into flour to

make tortillas and corn chips.

Tofu is a

food made

from soya

Rice seeds

186

WHEAT ▼

Wheat is the most important

grain crop in mild northern

climates, where it is cultivated

on a vast scale. A member

of the grass family,

wheat has been bred

to have large seeds for

grinding into flour.

POTATOES ▶

The potato is the tuber

(storage root) of a plant

related to tomatoes.

It was brought to Europe

from South America in the

16th century, and since then

it has become one of the

world’s main foods.

TOMATOES ▲

Closely related to potatoes, and

introduced from the same region of South

America in the late 1500s, the tomato is

now grown almost worldwide.

◀ COCOA

The main ingredient of

chocolate, cocoa beans come from the

pods of the cocoa tree, grown mainly in

West Africa and tropical America. The

beans are first left to ferment in the sun,

then dried, roasted, and either ground

into powder or made into cocoa butter.

SOYA BEANS ▲

High in protein and rich in oil, soya

beans were once known only in

the Far East. Now popular with

vegetarians, they are grown in

warm climates

worldwide.

RICE ▼

One of the world’s three

staple foods – along with

maize and wheat – rice is a

type of grass that grows in warm

climates. It is usually cultivated in

flooded “paddy” fields, which cover

large areas of the tropics.

◀ TEA

The leaves used to make

tea come from an evergreen

bush that grows in tropical

and sub-tropical climates. It

is cultivated mainly in China

and India, where the leaves

are hand-picked and quickly

dried. Leaf tea can be

used as it is, or in paper

tea bags.

Dried tea

leaves

Fresh

tea leaves

Fresh

cocoa pod

Dried cocoa

pod

Cocoa beans

Bunch of

wheat

seedheads

Bread made

from wheat

flour

Soya bean

pods

Soy sauce

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So

Dried soya ya^ fl^ our

beans

Corn^ chips

Tea bags

So

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milk

Grains of^ ric

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Co

ok

ed

ri

ce

Maize

kernels on

the cob

Rice

cakes

Cor

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rti
lla
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Inside a
yellow tomato
Vine of red
tomatoes
Bar of
chocolate
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up
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Red potatoes
186_187_Farming.indd 186 10/01/19 2:26 PM